It’s only been a few weeks since Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) completed assembly of its four-limbed CHIMP robot, but the Tartan Rescue Team has high hopes for the robot’s performance at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials Dec. 20-21. “We’ve been on a fast track for the past year, doing detailed design and development of CHIMP at the same time as we were writing and testing its software on surrogate hardware,” said Tony Stentz, NREC director and leader of the Tartan Rescue Team. “That’s an aggressive approach to producing a robot unlike any we have built and not without risk, but it appears to be paying off.

“The software allowed us to investigate a number of issues that influenced the design of the hardware and improved the robot,” he continued. “Even though we would love to have more time to practice with CHIMP prior to the trials, we’ve been pleased so far with its performance.”

Tartan Rescue is one of 17 teams competing at the DRC Trials at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. Sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the DRC is intended to spur development of advanced robots that can mitigate disasters while working in environments engineered for people. Based on performance at the trials, up to eight teams will receive DARPA funding to help prepare for the DRC Finals next December.